Astronomers believe they may have found the famous lunar module from the Apollo 10 mission - 50 years after it disappeared.
The module, which was given the nickname ‘Snoopy’, was released into space by the crew in 1969 as a practice run for the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
Two of the three astronauts transferred into it, to reach an altitude of 50,000ft above the Moon's surface.
They then returned to the command module. After demonstrating the docking manoeuvre, the mission was over and Snoopy was shot off into space.
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| Astronaut Tom Stafford being shown a pennant bearing Snoopy at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida |
Nick Howes, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, said he is certain it has been found and all they need is someone to go and retrieve it.
Mr Howes said he began the search for the module in 2011 and calculated the odds of finding it were 235 million to one.
He and a team of astronomers analysed terabytes of radar data and in 2018 found what they believe is Snoopy.
"We are 98% convinced we have found it. Until someone goes out and gets it, we can't be 100% sure. Until someone gets really close to it and gets a detailed radar profile, we can't be sure," Mr Howes said.
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| Apollo 10 Lunar Module |
"We've got to wait quite a few years for it to come back but once it does come back the idea is that we are going to get a really detailed picture of it.
"It would be a really fantastic achievement for science. People say 'what's the point?' From a space archaeology point of view, it's interesting.
"It's the only one that's up there that has flown that is left. The Apollo programme was the greatest technical achievement in human history.
"Anyone of a certain age will know exactly what they were doing on July 20 1969. It's the Kennedy moment.
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| The Apollo 10 command module is seen from the lunar module (LM) after separation in lunar orbit |
"As a piece of history, a moment in history, this is a unique artefact."
Mr Howes told the Cheltenham Science Festival that someone with space expertise such as SpaceX founder Elon Musk would be the ideal candidate to bring Snoopy back to Earth.
He said: "I would love to get Elon Musk and his wonderful spacecraft up and grab it and bring it down.
"As Apollo 10 crew member Eugene Cernan said to me, 'Son, if you find that and bring it down, imagine the queues at the Smithsonian?'.
"I am hoping that by the time it does come back Elon Musk has already got to the moon and he maybe on the way to getting to Mars.
"Elon Musk is the biggest Apollo nerd on the planet and has the biggest museum outside of the Smithsonian for Apollo nerdish stuff.
"If you said to him, 'Elon, do you want the coolest thing in the museum ever?' Three hundred million US dollars to get the thing, he'd probably pay it."
